Boston was NOT their home. Now a little Bedtime reading for Eugene. Thanks, Peter. Czech this out, and note...Lowell George played with them, very briefly !
The Standells
Dick Dodd, drums, vocals
Gary Lane, bass, vocals
Lawrence Tamblyn, keyboards, guitar, vocals
Tony Valentino, guitar
Dave Burke, bass (replaced Lane in 1967)
Not a Boston band but rather an act formed in Los Angeles in the early '60s. The kids reportedly chose their name as they often found themselves standing around their agent's office seeking work. The song, " (I Love That) Dirty Water" hit the charts for 9 weeks and reached number 11 back on 6/11/66. The tune allegedly depicts an attempted mugging that took place on the Smoot (nee MIT) Bridge on Mass Ave., Cambridge, when the boy's manager (Ed Cobb; one-time member of the Four Preps) was visiting Beantown back in the mid-'60s. Another version suggests that the song was just an idea, more or less, with lyrics that Ed Cobb brought in to the studio for the band to fool with. In any event it became a smash and was followed by a few chart busters as well.
Gary Lane left the band on their first tour to become a plumber and was replaced by Dick Burke. Dodd was a former Mouseketeer and a former member of the band Bel-Airs. An earlier drummer, Gary Leeds, went on to be known as Gary Walker as a member of the Walker Brothers. The band appeared in the American-International flick “Riot on Sunset Strip” (Fall of 1967). Dodd did a solo album for the Tower label (with manager/producer Cobb) and a few singles. Tamblyn and Valentino (with help from a young Lowell George, prior to his involvement with Frank Zappa's Mothers of Invention and his own Little Feat band) played out as the Standells for awhile. Those guys formed their own indie label, Telco, in the mid-80's before some reunion gigs in 1986. The original line-up of Dodd, Tamblyn and Valentino came together in November of 1999 for the Cavestomp! (http://www.cavestomp.com) series held at the Westbeth Theatre in NYC.
Early recordings from the Standells were demos made for various labels like Linda, MGM, Vee Jay, and Liberty. Liberty even went to the time, trouble and effort of releasing the now –rare LP, “The Standells Live at PJ's”.
Animal Girl/Soul Drippin' (45, Tower 398, 1968)
The Boy Next Door/
